Most Popular Baby Names of 1980

In 1980, Jennifer was the most popular name for girls, given to 58,374 babies, and Michael topped the boys' list with 68,683. Jennifer held on to number one for a 11th year in a row, and Michael held on to number one for a 20th year in a row.

Social Security counted 1,660,307 girls and 1,783,951 boys born in 1980 under names given to at least five babies, spread across 12,161 different girls' names and 7,293 boys' names.

Top 100 names of 1980

Top girls' names, 1980
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1979
1	Jennifer	58,374	same
2	Amanda	35,811	up 1
3	Jessica	33,924	up 1
4	Melissa	31,629	down 2
5	Sarah	25,757	up 1
6	Heather	19,973	up 1
7	Nicole	19,917	up 2
8	Amy	19,833	down 3
9	Elizabeth	19,529	up 2
10	Michelle	19,119	same
11	Kimberly	18,497	up 1
12	Angela	17,969	down 4
13	Stephanie	17,841	up 2
14	Tiffany	16,228	up 14
15	Christina	16,141	down 1
16	Lisa	15,664	down 3
17	Rebecca	15,281	same
18	Crystal	14,253	same
19	Kelly	13,710	down 3
20	Erin	13,428	up 1
21	Laura	12,916	down 1
22	Amber	12,553	same
23	Rachel	11,618	up 4
24	Jamie	11,529	down 5
25	Mary	11,474	down 1
26	April	11,472	down 3
27	Sara	11,148	up 3
28	Andrea	10,450	down 2
29	Shannon	9,670	down 4
30	Megan	9,134	up 1
31	Emily	9,001	up 3
32	Julie	8,906	down 3
33	Danielle	8,845	same
34	Erica	8,760	down 2
35	Katherine	8,017	up 1
36	Maria	7,875	up 1
37	Kristin	7,701	up 36
38	Lauren	7,476	up 7
39	Kristen	7,316	up 23
40	Ashley	7,296	up 27
41	Christine	7,085	down 6
42	Brandy	6,410	down 3
43	Tara	6,283	down 5
44	Katie	6,137	up 19
45	Monica	6,034	down 5
46	Carrie	5,761	down 5
47	Alicia	5,753	same
48	Courtney	5,618	up 23
49	Misty	5,541	down 7
50	Kathryn	5,527	same
51	Patricia	5,310	down 7
52	Holly	5,282	down 4
53	Stacy	5,057	down 10
54	Karen	5,055	down 8
55	Anna	5,038	up 4
56	Tracy	4,969	down 7
57	Brooke	4,951	up 28
58	Samantha	4,913	up 8
59	Allison	4,868	up 11
60	Melanie	4,841	down 7
61	Leslie	4,776	up 4
62	Susan	4,704	down 11
63	Brandi	4,703	down 2
64	Cynthia	4,700	down 9
65	Natalie	4,645	up 3
66	Jill	4,558	down 14
67	Dawn	4,479	down 10
68	Dana	4,438	down 14
69	Vanessa	4,426	up 6
70	Veronica	4,378	up 6
71	Lindsay	4,353	up 17
72	Tina	4,260	down 14
73	Kristina	4,222	up 1
74	Stacey	4,222	down 14
75	Wendy	4,141	down 11
76	Lori	4,085	down 7
77	Catherine	4,080	up 1
78	Kristy	4,059	down 22
79	Heidi	4,027	up 4
80	Sandra	4,002	down 3
81	Jacqueline	3,879	down 1
82	Kathleen	3,857	up 2
83	Christy	3,673	down 11
84	Leah	3,642	up 14
85	Valerie	3,613	up 4
86	Pamela	3,533	up 4
87	Erika	3,516	up 4
88	Tanya	3,436	up 5
89	Natasha	3,428	up 21
90	Katrina	3,397	up 9
91	Lindsey	3,386	up 22
92	Melinda	3,201	down 10
93	Monique	3,163	up 48
94	Teresa	3,149	down 7
95	Denise	3,145	down 3
96	Tammy	3,134	down 17
97	Tonya	3,080	down 11
98	Julia	3,069	up 24
99	Candice	3,012	up 29
100	Gina	2,991	down 4

Top boys' names, 1980
Rank	Name	Babies	vs 1979
1	Michael	68,683	same
2	Christopher	49,079	same
3	Jason	48,164	same
4	David	41,891	same
5	James	39,312	same
6	Matthew	37,834	same
7	Joshua	36,052	up 2
8	John	35,274	down 1
9	Robert	34,266	down 1
10	Joseph	30,185	up 1
11	Daniel	29,888	up 1
12	Brian	28,715	down 2
13	Justin	26,763	up 9
14	William	25,639	down 1
15	Ryan	24,795	down 1
16	Eric	22,611	up 1
17	Nicholas	21,018	down 2
18	Jeremy	19,892	down 2
19	Andrew	19,730	up 1
20	Timothy	19,146	down 2
21	Jonathan	18,986	up 10
22	Adam	18,868	up 1
23	Kevin	17,972	down 4
24	Anthony	17,604	down 3
25	Thomas	17,564	up 1
26	Richard	16,656	down 1
27	Jeffrey	16,379	down 3
28	Steven	15,916	down 1
29	Charles	14,959	down 1
30	Mark	14,169	same
31	Brandon	14,161	up 4
32	Benjamin	13,622	up 1
33	Scott	13,300	down 4
34	Aaron	13,166	down 2
35	Paul	11,819	down 1
36	Nathan	11,138	up 1
37	Travis	10,764	down 1
38	Patrick	10,352	up 1
39	Chad	10,142	down 1
40	Stephen	10,062	same
41	Kenneth	9,608	same
42	Gregory	9,267	same
43	Jacob	8,520	up 2
44	Dustin	8,416	up 18
45	Jesse	8,374	up 5
46	Jose	8,323	down 2
47	Shawn	7,698	down 4
48	Sean	7,596	up 1
49	Bryan	7,513	down 3
50	Derek	7,240	up 22
51	Bradley	7,210	down 4
52	Edward	6,762	down 4
53	Donald	6,269	down 2
54	Samuel	6,014	up 1
55	Peter	5,967	down 2
56	Keith	5,887	down 4
57	Kyle	5,775	down 1
58	Ronald	5,757	down 4
59	Juan	5,434	up 2
60	George	5,300	down 3
61	Jared	5,205	up 4
62	Douglas	5,180	down 4
63	Gary	5,037	down 4
64	Erik	4,918	up 2
65	Phillip	4,633	up 3
66	Raymond	4,578	up 4
67	Joel	4,564	up 4
68	Corey	4,437	down 5
69	Shane	4,365	down 2
70	Larry	4,262	down 1
71	Marcus	4,260	up 5
72	Zachary	4,245	up 2
73	Craig	4,234	up 4
74	Derrick	4,135	up 6
75	Todd	4,128	down 15
76	Jeremiah	4,093	up 5
77	Antonio	4,085	up 2
78	Carlos	4,084	down 5
79	Shaun	3,923	down 15
80	Dennis	3,804	down 5
81	Frank	3,734	down 3
82	Philip	3,563	up 1
83	Cory	3,556	down 1
84	Brent	3,537	same
85	Gabriel	3,493	up 5
86	Nathaniel	3,492	up 9
87	Randy	3,390	down 1
88	Luis	3,359	up 14
89	Curtis	3,332	up 2
90	Jeffery	3,324	down 3
91	Alexander	3,279	up 3
92	Russell	3,269	same
93	Casey	3,215	same
94	Jerry	3,189	down 9
95	Wesley	3,165	down 6
96	Brett	3,128	up 2
97	Luke	3,109	up 13
98	Lucas	3,080	up 10
99	Seth	3,050	up 2
100	Billy	2,991	down 3

Biggest climbers in 1980

The names that gained the most ground within the top 1,000 compared with 1979.

Girls

Loni: up 420 places, from 990th to 570th
Renata: up 391 places, from 727th to 336th
Syreeta: up 387 places, from 956th to 569th
Caitlin: up 312 places, from 677th to 365th
Christin: up 310 places, from 732nd to 422nd
Alaina: up 307 places, from 808th to 501st
Cristin: up 278 places, from 976th to 698th
Taylor: up 254 places, from 969th to 715th
Kristyn: up 253 places, from 998th to 745th
Christen: up 232 places, from 680th to 448th

Boys

Bo: up 298 places, from 866th to 568th
Dusty: up 255 places, from 614th to 359th
Chaz: up 233 places, from 985th to 752nd
Dario: up 223 places, from 993rd to 770th
Jamaal: up 221 places, from 603rd to 382nd
Dillon: up 205 places, from 878th to 673rd
Cole: up 163 places, from 679th to 516th
Kelley: up 158 places, from 997th to 839th
Derik: up 156 places, from 794th to 638th
Dereck: up 151 places, from 852nd to 701st

New to the top 1,000 in 1980

Girls

Anya, 556th (its first time ever)
Ariana, 598th (back after dropping out)
Mariana, 704th (its first time ever)
Renada, 709th (its first time ever)
Kandice, 737th (back after dropping out)
Kristan, 797th (back after dropping out)
Kendall, 827th (back after dropping out)
Kacie, 830th (its first time ever)
Latesha, 843rd (back after dropping out)
Britney, 845th (its first time ever)

Boys

Yoel, 779th (its first time ever)
Cristian, 853rd (back after dropping out)
Anson, 867th (back after dropping out)
Andrae, 878th (back after dropping out)
Carmen, 895th (back after dropping out)
Michelle, 897th (back after dropping out)
Simeon, 898th (back after dropping out)
Ezequiel, 902nd (back after dropping out)
Lazaro, 904th (back after dropping out)
Norberto, 909th (back after dropping out)

How spread out were names in 1980?

The ten most popular girls' names went to 17.1% of the girls counted in 1980, and the top ten boys' names to 23.6% of the boys. In 1960, those shares were 17% for girls and 29.1% for boys.

Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.